Amith Prabhu: Did you do things differently to be a better PR professional this year?

02 Dec,2013

By Amith Prabhu

The last month of the year is upon us. It is that time of the year when lists are being made, campaigns are being evaluated and holiday plans are being finalised.

Things slow down a bit before pacing up again. In the midst of intense activity we as PR professionals need to take some time off to introspect on how we added value to the profession this past year and how we can make things better in the coming year. Here is an indicative list of things that can help us evaluate how we did things differently to become better professionals than we were when the year began-

Self:Â Write a Blog: Did we start a blog or keep the flame of an existing blog alive by writing atleast one each month?

Conference: Did we attend a professional conference to enhance our perspective on our business?

Book: Did we read at least one book on Public Relations during the past 11 months?

Work: Measurement: Did we measure a campaign differently to move many steps away from AVE? If so how did we do it?

Innovation: Did we innovate in one of our PR programmes in such a manner that we set a new standard?

Creative Solution: Did we offer our team or organisation or client a fresh, creative

Solution that set us apart?

Profession: Make professional acquaintances: Did we make new connections beyond our workplace or that of our client or that of a media outlet yet connected to our profession? How are we leveraging that?

Mentorship: Did we mentor a younger professional or did we find ourself a mentor to guide us on our professional path to success?

Contribute: Did we take time out to spend it in interacting with students who will soon enter the profession either on or off campus teaching and learning?

Lastly, Did we stand up for an ethical and just way of doing Public Relations that helps bring robustness into what we do?

If we did some (3 to 4) or all of these we can look back with pride at a year gone by and prepare for a new year that holds promise and challenges.

Amith Prabhu has recently relocated to India after a two-year stint in the US. The views expressed here are his own. He can be reached at @amithpr